The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm - that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict. Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon.

Those Across the River

Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate - the Savoyard Plantation - and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.

The Lesser Dead

New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live - and die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody - he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city's sidewalks.

The Necromancer's House

Andrew Ranulf Blankenship is a handsome, stylish nonconformist with wry wit, a classic Mustang, and a massive library. He is also a recovering alcoholic and a practicing warlock, able to speak with the dead through film. His house is a maze of sorcerous booby traps and escape tunnels, as yours might be if you were sitting on a treasury of Russian magic stolen from the Soviet Union thirty years ago.

The Restorer: The Graveyard Queen, Book 1

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to these rules passed down from my father…until now. Detective John Devlin needs my help to find a killer, but he is haunted by ghosts who shadow his every move. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the headstone symbols lead me closer to truth and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

In Malice, Quite Close

French ex-pat Tristan Mourault is the wealthy, urbane heir to a world-renowned collection of art - and an insatiable voyeur enamored with Karen Miller, a 15-year-old from a working-class family in San Francisco. Deciding he must 'rescue' Karen from her unhappy circumstances, Tristan kidnaps her and stages her death to mask his true crime.

Reviver: A Novel

Jonah Miller is a Reviver, able to temporarily revive the dead so they can say goodbye to their loved ones - or tell the police who killed them. Jonah works in a department of forensics created specifically for Revivers, and he’s the best in the business. For every high-profile corpse pushing daisies, it’s Jonah’s job to find justice for them. But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence. Something is on the other side watching. Waiting.

All the Bells on Earth

Doughnuts, family tensions, relatives who arrive in a Winnebago, Christmas decorations, business worries, Uncle Henry's womanizing, and pyramid schemes wrap Walt Stebbins in layers of detail and distraction. Walt runs a small catalogue business out of his garage, and he has no notion of a demonic presence in his town until a package is mistakenly delivered to him.

Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day: And Other Tales of the Necromancer

Johannes Cabal is a necromancer - and he's slightly infamous. Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day: And Other Tales of the Necromancer features seven of Cabal's most frightening adventures, including "Exeunt Demon King", "The Ereshkigal Working", "Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day", and more. Also included is an original introduction written and read by the author.

NOS4A2: A Novel

Victoria McQueen has an uncanny knack for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. When she rides her bicycle over the rickety old covered bridge in the woods near her house, she always emerges in the places she needs to be. Vic doesn't tell anyone about her unusual ability, because she knows no one will believe her. She has trouble understanding it herself.

Limbus Inc.

A shadowy employment agency that operates at the edge of the normal world. Limbus's employess are just as suspicious and ephemeral as the motives of the company, if indeed it could be called a company in the normal sense of the word. In this shared-world anthology, five heavy hitters from the dark worlds of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi pool their warped takes on the shadow organization that offers employment of the most unusual kind to those on the fringes of society.

The War Against the Assholes

Mike Wood is satisfied just being a guy with broad shoulders at a decidedly unprestigious Catholic school in Manhattan. But on the dirty streets of New York City, he's an everyman with a moral code who is unafraid of violence. And when Mike is unwittingly recruited into a secret cell of magicians by a fellow student, Mike's role as a steadfast soldier begins. These magicians don't use ritualized rote to work their magic; they use willpower in their clandestine war with the establishment: The Assholes.

The Good House

Tananarive Due, author of The Living Blood won the American Book Award and is praised as Stephen King's equal by Publishers Weekly. In The Good House, Due sets a story of ancient powers and modern retribution in a small Pacific Northwest town. When a young woman returns to her grandmother's empty mansion, she is pitted against demonic forces that have poisoned her family for generations.

Where Darkness Dwells: A Great Depression Horror Novel

During a hot summer night in 1934, tragedy strikes when two local boys search for the truth behind a local legend. They stumble upon the Underground, a network of uncharted caverns just below the surface of Coal Hollow. Time holds no sway in the Underground. People no longer age and their wounds heal as if by magic. By morning, one boy is murdered, while the other never returns home. The Underground is hidden for a reason. Certain locals want to keep their lair secret, no matter the cost.

Let Me In

Let Me In is the horrific tale of Oskar and Eli. It begins with the grizzly discovery of the body of a teenage boy, emptied of blood. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last - revenge for all the bad things the bullies at school do to him. While Oskar is fascinated by the murder, it is not the most important thing in his life. A new girl has moved in next door. They become friends. Then something more. But there is something wrong with her, something odd.

Who Goes There?: The Novella That Formed the Basis of 'THE THING'

Who Goes There?, the novella that formed the basis of the film The Thing, is the John W. Campbell classic about an antarctic research camp that discovers and thaws the ancient body of a crash-landed alien.

The Hour Before the Dark

There are rules to every game. You must never play the Dark Game after sunset - it becomes real then. It takes you over... The Hour Before Dark is a riveting gothic suspense novel of supernatural horror from best-selling and award-winning novelist Douglas Clegg - author of The Children's Hour and Halloween Man. When his father is murdered in one of the most vicious killings of recent years, Nemo Raglan must return to the New England island he thought he'd escaped for good...and the shadowy home called Hawthorn.

Murder as a Fine Art

Thomas De Quincey, infamous for his memoir "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater", is the major suspect in a series of ferocious mass murders identical to ones that terrorized London 43 years earlier. The blueprint for the killings seems to be De Quincey's essay "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts". Desperate to clear his name but crippled by opium addiction, De Quincey is aided by his devoted daughter, Emily, and a pair of determined Scotland Yard detectives.

The Homecoming

Kate and Nick Kavanaugh (lawyer and cop respectively) take in young Rainey Teague, whose parents have died under mysterious circumstances. Rainey is a handful. Well, actually, Rainey is turning out to be someone - or something - downright scary: a shape-shifting time-bending little boy who will have to resist being taken over by "Nothing." Will Kate and Nick be able to save him? Will the mirror they have kept up in the attic ultimately be their downfall? When more disappearances start to happen, where do they turn?

They Thirst

It looked like another ordinary day in Los Angeles. Then night came...Evil as old as the centuries has descended upon the City of Angels - it comes as a kiss from the terrifying but seductive immortals. Slowly at first, then by the legions, the ravenous undead choke Los Angeles with bloodthirsty determination - and the hordes of monstrous victims steadily mount each night.

Forsaken: Book One of the Shadow Cove Saga

When horror author Thad McAlister began his latest novel, a tale rooted in the witch trials of centuries past, the words flowed effortlessly. The story poured forth, filling page after page with the most frightening character ever to crawl from his imagination. It was his greatest work, one that would guarantee him a position among the legends of the craft.

Finn Fancy Necromancy

Finn Gramaraye was framed for the crime of dark necromancy at the age of 15 and exiled to the Other Realm for 25 years. But now that he's free, someone--probably the same someone--is trying to get him sent back. Finn has only a few days to discover who is so desperate to keep him out of the mortal world and find evidence to prove it to the Arcane Enforcers. They are going to be very hard to convince since he's already been convicted of trying to kill someone with dark magic.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Six years after four family members died of arsenic poisoning, the three remaining Blackwoods—elder, agoraphobic sister Constance; wheelchair-bound Uncle Julian; and 18-year-old Mary Katherine, or, Merricat—live together in pleasant isolation. Merricat has developed an idiosyncratic system of rules and protective magic to guard the estate against intrusions from hostile villagers. But one day a stranger arrives—cousin Charles, with his eye on the Blackwood fortune.

The Troop

Once every year, Scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a weekend camping trip - a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story around a roaring bonfre. The boys are a tight-knit crew. There’s Kent, one of the most popular kids in school; Ephraim and Max, also well-liked and easygoing; then there’s Newt the nerd and Shelley the odd duck. For the most part, they all get along and are happy to be there - which makes Scoutmaster Tim’s job a little easier.

Publisher's Summary

And Lucifer said, “Let us rise against Him now in all our numbers, and pull the walls of heaven down…”

The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm - that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict.

Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission: to confront the evil that has devastated the earth and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.

As Hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels, demons, saints, and the risen dead - and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.

Christopher Buehlman is a writer and performer from St. Petersburg, Florida. The winner of the 2007 Bridport Prize for poetry, he is also the author of several plays and the acclaimed horror novel Those Across the River. He lives with his wife and his rescued dog, Duck.

What the Critics Say

“Having made a huge bloody splash with Those across the River, Buehlman returns with a book set in 1348 Europe…It’s intriguing that Buehlman has leapt so far from the mid-century Southern setting of his first novel, just as intriguing that he’s also an award-winning poet. Expect demand.” (Library Journal)

Between Two Fires is a well written 14th century period piece that expertly intermingles vivid scenes of plague ravaged France with Christian mythos to provide a fantastical horror story that reads like historical fiction. I am not a great horror fan so to say I "liked" this book wouldn't be quite right, but I was completely captivated by it. Christopher Buehlman is masterful in his writing - his characters are so genuine, the settings so sharply etched, the plot so intricate and imaginative that I was engrossed throughout the book. I felt a bit dazed at the end of the book coming back to the 21st century after this total immersion experience in 1348.

I have to thank Audible and Troy's review for giving me a nudge to look at this book. I'm don't normally read books in the horror genre, but I am a huge fan of good writing and this book ranks right up there with the best. And, it paints such a clear picture of this period of medieval history that it is likely to be appealing to those who like historical fiction as well as those who enjoy a good scary story.

It's not a book for everyone - the book covers a dark period of history when the Black Death rampaged through Europe and many of the characters are rough, vulgar people so it is not surprising that there are graphic scenes of violence and a fair amount of cursing and crude language in the book. I did not think the violence or bad language was gratuitous, but I know I like to know before hand when a book is one I want to listen to in private. (One oddity in regard to the vulgar language, Buehlman seems to have no difficult referring to various parts of female anatomy in very coarse terms, but male anatomy was demurely referred to as "the groin" and "his verge" which struck me as a little strange.)

Steve West does a terrific job with the narration. He pitches his voice just right to maintain the growing tension through the plot progression and does a good job with voices as well. One tiny criticism - scythe, a word used many times in the novel, does not have a K sound in it. Not a big deal, but I do think audio production people could do a better job picking up that sort of thing.

This is not a book for the faint of heart or those with delicate sensibilities, but it is a fascinating and well-written story.

ot only would I listen to it again, I WILL listen to it again. Maybe even right now!

Any additional comments?

This is the most original book I have a]\read in a long time. While some people may be turned off by the religious overtones, the story of Between Two Fires is compelling whether or not you are religious. It is like Stephen King's "The Stand" Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" and Brown's "Da Vinci Code" all got together and had a baby with a history bool about the Dark Ages. I have never read anything quite like it. The characters are fascinating and flawed, the plot is riveting and surprising, and the writing is superb. If you like fantasy or christian literature, or both, or neither, check this book out!

I enjoyed this book a lot. The fact that the characters were so different from most quasi-type Evil Vs Good. Tomas was interesting and you could really get a sense of how he thought what changed him and why. The female lead was also very different from most 'touched by angels' characters. Yes, it's a book of demons vs God in a battle for men's souls,,seemingly a God who has forgotten earth and his creation. Demons who always remember His creation. But they are different in this story and I enjoyed it. The Author's second book I think, but certainly with a lot of promise.I would definitely read another book by Buehlman. And I really liked the unexpected ending, what a nice surprise.This book isn't over religious and I don't want to give that impression. It's more about how we interact with and treat others and some of the consequences that result. It is a novel and not written as "This is the way it is" feeling one gets from reading an Author who is trying to state that his point of view is the only one, the true one. That sort of judging is not in this book. If you like a good story that has really scary parts, really gruesome parts, really endearing parts that span the continuum then get this book. You won't be disappointed.

Christopher Buehlman is my new favorite author and oh boy does he know how to deliver a jaw-dropping, stomach-lurching, hair-raising apocalyptic tale of heaven, hell and pure evil! That’s right, this story is not for the faint of heart but if you can handle blasphemy, foul language, outrages monstrosities (both physical and emotional), disturbing descriptions of demons, disease, plague, murder, mutilations and gore then this audiobook is definitely for you.

We follow the trail of a disgraced knight, a damaged priest and a young orphaned girl who travel together to reach Avignon for a purpose not entirely clear until much later. What is clear is that the girl is ‘chosen’ and her visions guide the group through 14th century France’s countryside. Amidst the deadly outbreak of bubonic plague there are other things more sinister and the three face trials that range from the supernatural and celestial to the physical and psychological. Their journey is swamped with deliciously described battle scenes, personal struggles and outrageous horrors. Devils and mythical monsters abound since heaven has failed to answer, while Hell’s minions revel because God has fallen silent. Good vs. evil, dark vs. light, sinner vs. saint and demon vs. angel. There is also redemption, renewal, faith, mercy, sacrifice and love.

“Between Two Fires” is impressively detailed and well-written. The main characters are deeply developed and their adversaries are also well defined…and so maliciously murderous that one can almost smell the carnage. There are masterful passages of supernatural warfare, grotesque cruelty as well as moments of tenderness and lighthearted banter. With Steve West’s pitch-perfect narration, I was hooked and I found it near impossible to stop listening.

I can’t believe I had not heard of Christopher Buehlman but you can bet I will not forget him. In fact I’ve already purchased his book, “Those Across the River”. I need more please...more Buehlman for me!!!

I heard about this title on the This Is Audible podcast, and it sounded like a lot of fun. I like a good horror story, I love medieval fiction... it seemed a good match. Honestly, how many medieval horror novels do you know about? Then throw in that the author is known on the Ren Faire circuit as "Christoph the Insulter," well, curiosity made me dive in head first because I've seen this guy's schtick. He's a blast when he takes the stage. But is he a good novelist?

Yes. Yes he is. This book is amazing! You believe in the reality of these characters, and the grim sense of humor that many of them have seems like the only thing that would keep these characters sane, considering the story takes place during the Black Death. It's bad enough the story is descriptive enough that you can smell the carnage. It's clear that the writer has done his homework, because the world and its people feel real. But then add in that Lovecraftian sensibility where the fiends of Hell are crawling all over the place in impossibly grotesque shapes... you're laughing one minute at the jokes, then cringing the next because story is so well told and equally as well narrated. If you this book might be in your wheelhouse, it's an absolute must-read.

A fallen knight, an orphaned girl, & a priest are joined together on a trek through hell on earth hoping to each find salvation, life, or simple peace. It seemed a bit 'Wizard of Oz' ish but Steve West did such an incredible job I couldn't stop listening! I had heard Steve before in a romance book- Knight in Shining Armor- and thought he was terrible so I hesitated on this one. Wow I am so glad I took a chance. This type of genre doesn't usually appeal to me but I am trying to expand and read a broader spectrum. It was deep and sometimes confusing with all the religious banter. The power struggles between good and evil and the fantastic horrific demons /monsters really get your imagination stirring. I loved the way it ended......touching and surprising. The knight, Sir Thomas, will now always be one of my favorite characters.

This is now among my favorite stories. The story moves along well from the very beginning. The author builds the characters throughout the story but I fell in love with the main characters from the start. The story starts out interesting enough, but as it moves along the changes drew me in. I was pleasantly suprised throughout the story as the author continued to challenge me to try to guess what he had in store next.The narration and editing are excellent.

I got this one in a Halloween sale at audible, and it's fairly enjoyable. The setting is 14th century France, and the Black Death is ravishing a countryside already ravished by war. To the survivors, it looks like the End Times are coming and the devil's supernatural minions are loose upon the Earth. And perhaps they are...

The story feels like a mix of George R.R. Martin and Cormac McCarthy's The Road, with some Heironymus Bosch-ian freakiness thrown in (if you don't know who he is, do an image search on the internet -- it's worth your time). A hardbitten fallen knight is roaming the hellscape with some outlaws when his compatriots take an unwholesome interest in a strange girl, who claims to hear instructions from angels. The knight takes issue, swords are drawn, and soon the knight is the grudging companion of the girl, whom he intends to dump at the next village. But, after an encounter with a monster and a hallucinatory vision, he begins to think her angels might be real...

The plot takes a while to find its feet as the two protagonists go from town to town, encountering new scenes of devastation, various creatures of the underworld, and the usual demons of human nature, and picking up a wayward priest and a mule, but tightens up as it approaches the last act.

The story isn't without cliches, some dialogue of dubious authenticity, and few scenes or devices straight out of a B horror movie, but its more deliciously nightmarish moments make up for the weak patches. The monster/angel/demon battles are a little "Hollywood", but, otherwise, Buehlman does a fine job with creepy imagery and some of the more human-focused scenes.

I particularly enjoyed the mini-narratives that set the stage for each new act, describing an ongoing war between the hosts of heaven and the hosts of hell (with humanity caught in the middle) in appropriately medieval terms. I'm not sure how much of what transpires really represents Christian theology, but, then again, one could ask that about The Exorcist. The epilogue, though, seems to reach a more spiritual and less supernatural understanding of the religion.

Audiobook narrator, Steve West, does pretty well with male characters, though I wondered why he represented Frenchmen with an English accent. Maybe he can't do a French accent? His German accent might be the most Jamaican sounding one I've ever heard. And I wasn't a huge fan of his falsetto for Delphine.

Regardless, I think that fans of horror fantasy and/or gritty action set in the Middle Ages will enjoy this book. 3.5 stars overall.

The story of a fallen knight looking for redemption and an innocent child he must protect. Set in the time of the Black Plague, Buehlman captures the horror, the disgust, the putrescence of that setting in exquisite detail. The author delivers the aspects of redemption and innocence to perfection with a thrilling finale. The is the first book I've listened to by this author and I'm looking forward to diving into his other works.Definitely recommend this book!

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